Indicating mechanism for rotary helical cookers



N. NIELSEN. INDICATING MECHANISM FOR ROTARY HELICAL COOKERS. APPLICATIONFILED MN- I], 1921.

1,406,213. Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l- N i N. NIELSEN. INDICATINGV MECHANISM FOR ROTARYHEVLICAL COOKERS. APPLICATION FILED JAN-11.1921.

1,406,21 3. Patented Feb. 14, 1922;

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

/ jg z N. NIELSEN.

INDICATING MECHANiSM FOR ROTARY HELICAL COOKERS.

APPLICATION FILED. JAN-1|. 1921.

1,406,21 3. Patented Feb. 14, 1922 3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

'1 W ,nHl WW- W Z i for full passage throughsaid cooker.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NIELS NIELSEN, OF PITTSBURG, CALIFORNIA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

Application filed January 11, 1921. Serial No. 436,590.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NIELS NIELSEN, a citizen of the United States,residin at Pittsburg, in the county of Contra osta and State ofCalifornia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in an IndicatingMechanism for Rotary Helical Cookers, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to improvements in indicators for rotary helicalcookers for cooking canned products wherein an indicator operates inconjunction with the rotary helical conveyor of said cooker to indicatethe longitudinal and peripheral position of a designated can withinsaid. cooker.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a new andimproved indicator for indicating the position of a designated can orcans within said cooker.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a new andimproved device of the character described adapted to sound an alarmjust previously to the arrival of a designated can or cans at anypredetermined position in said cooker.

In rotary cookers of this type the period of time required for thepassage of a designated can is approximately thirtyfive minutes.

After starting a run of cans through the cooker it is essential that thearrival of the cans at the other end of said cooker, or, the time saidcans begin to emerge, should be known in order that the operators forthe next or successive stage of treatment should be prepared to receivethem.

Or, during a continuous run of cans through the cooker, it is sometimesdesired to run one or more cans of a difierent canned product throughthe cooker with the regular run. Owing to the difference in the roductit is sometimes essential that the lntroduced or. designated cans besubjected to the action of heat within the cooker for a lesser period oftime than that required The time of arrival of the beginning or endlngof a continuous run, or the position of an introduced can or cans,peripherally or longitudinally, may be indicated by the improvedindicator which "I have disclosed in the drawings forming a part of thepresent specification wherein like characters of reference are used todesignate similar parts throughout the said specification and drawings,and in which Fig. 1 is a broken side elevation of a rotary helicalcooker, partly broken away to disclose the rotary helical construction.

Fig. 2 is a broken end elevation;

Fig. 3 is a broken plan view of one end of said cooker disclosing mydevice applied thereto;

Fig. 1 is a rear View of the indicating means disclosing the manner inwhich the pawls rotate the same continuously in one direction Fig. 5 isa side elevation of Fig. 4 and Fig. 6 is an enlarged broken sectionalview disclosing the manner in which the indicator operating means isadjustably attached to the rotating element of the cooker.

' Referring to the drawings the numeral 1 is used to designate thehousing of a cooker within which is mounted the helical track 2 of thewell known type. A drum 3 is protions on the helical ,path, and alsoprovided with teeth 18 and apertures 19 on the periphery thereof.

Also pivotally mounted upon the shaft 12 and between the dial 16 and thehousing 1 are a pair of approximately oppositely disposed arms 21connected by means of suitable connecting rods 22 to an eccentric 23 inturn rotatably mounted upon a cam formed upon a pin 25Wvhich isrotatably and slidably mounted in a threaded collar 24 screwed into abore 26 of a plate 27 attached to the shaft 6 of the drum 3. The

cam has an arm 28 formed integral therewith, said arm being providedwith a or pin 29 adapted to engage any one ofa plurality of apertures 31arranged ad acent the periphery of said plate A spring .32 is interposedbetween a head 33 on the inner end of the pin 25 and the collar 24: tonormaiiy' retain. said arm in engaging relation with the plate 27through the medium of the lug 29 and one of the apertures 31.

The pin 25 is provided at its outer end with a handle 36 by means ofwhich said pin may be moved outward against the tension of the spring 32to release said lug 29 from the aperture 31 and then rotated toreposition said arm 28, the purpose of which will hereinafter be morefully set forth.

A pin 37 is also provided to detachably engage any one of the apertures19 within the edge or periphery of the dial 16 and to close the contacts38 to sound an alarm 39 during the rotation of said dial 16, said pin 37and dial 16 thus constituting an adjustable alarm operating means.

In operation cans of canned products are fed to the delivery conveyor 41disclosed in Fig. 1 of the drawings, which feeds said cans into an entryport 40 and to'the helical track 2 around'which said cans are conveyedby the action of the flights 4 on the drum 3, emerging at the other endof the cooker 1, or discharged through any one of a plurality ofintermediate delivery ports, with which 'this'type of conveyor isprovided, one of such being shown at 42, and into a chute 43' whichdelivers said cans to a conveyor 44 which then conveys said cans awayfrom the conveyor.

When the beginning or ending of a continuous run, or an introducedbatch, of cans 1s inserted or enters the 'entry port 40 the handle 36and pin 25 to which it is attached, are withdrawn against the tension.of the spring32 which disengages the arm 28 from the plate 27 and thesaid handle is then rotated, with the can, until said arm 28 liesapproximately midway between the connecting rods 22, in which positionone of a pair of one way pawls 46, pivotally mounted upon the ends ofthe arms 21 and engaging the teeth 18 of the dial 16, is positioned atthe beginning the dial 16.

The handle 36 is then released and the lug 29 of the arm 28 insertedwithin the nearest aperture 31 which corresponds to one of the flights 4on the drum 3. Simultaneously the dial 16 is rotated until thegraduation -marker 0 1s opposite or under the stationary indicator arm14.

The rotation of the drum 3 and worm gear 7 will their through the arm28, pin 29 and plate 27, rotate the pin 25 and cam'thereon to oscillatethe arms 21 and pawls 46 thereon to' continuously rotate the dial l6andthere by move successive 'graduations 17 under sald arm.

The longer graduations 17 on'the dial 16 indicate the successiveconvolutions of the helical conveyor 2 while the intermediategraduations and the arm 28 indicate the peof its operative stroke torotate,

periphery troduced or delivered into the entry port 40 at the time theindicator is set.

The helical positions indicated by the graduations 17 on the dial 16being known, the position of any designated can is readily ascertainedby reading the graduation under the indicator or arm 14.

To sound the alarm 39 just previously to the arrival of any designatedcan within the cooker, or the beginning or end of a continuous run ofcans, the pm 27 is inserted -within the aperture 19 in the periphery ofthe dial 16 which is slightly in advance of the raduation indicatingthat position. As the ial 16 rotates the pin 37 will engage and closethe contacts 38 and thereby sound the alarm 39 to warn the operator thatthe designated can, or the beginning or end of the continuous run ofcans is approaching the .predetermined position from which said'can orcans are to be removed from the cooker.

As the pawls 46 are being moved in the same direction but on oppositesides of the dial 16, it is evident that one pawl will always be inoperative and engaging relation with the teeth 18 of said dial 16 whilethe other pawl 46 is inoperative and on its return stroke. Therefore asubstantially continuous rotation will be imparted to said dial wherebythe longitudinal and peripheral position of a designated can within thecooker may be determined.

Having thus described my invention what I- claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is The combination with a helical cooker forcooking canned products and having intermediate delivery ports therein,of a rotatably mounted dial graduated peripherally to indicate variouslongitudinal and eripheral positions of said cooker, said dial eingprovided with an annularratchet; a stationary indicator mounted adjacentthe dial; a pair ofoppositely disposedpawls arranged-to engage saidratchet; acam mounted upon the cooker and arranged to be normallyrotated therewith and adapted for independent movement relatively to thecooker for adjusting purposes; connections mounted between the cam andthe pawls for alternately actuating said pawls to rotate the dialwhereby the position of a designated canwithin the cooker may bedetermined; an electrically operated alarm having a circuit closingelement mounted adjacent the dial; and a pm arranged to be adjustablymounted upon the dial at any desired point upon the thereof adapted toengage the circuit closing element to operate the alarm to warn anoperator of the arrival of saiddesignated can at a predetermined pointwithin the cooker.

In witness whereof I hereunto set my lg= NIELSEN.

